


Glimmer of a Feeling

by primadonna_princess



Series: Breaking the Ice [1]
Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series
Genre: Bridal!Fjorm, F/M, Helbindi is a Tsundere, Meet-Cute, Order of Heroes, Pre-Relationship, Slow Build, Summer!Helbindi, Summer!Ylgr, first sparks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-13
Updated: 2019-07-13
Packaged: 2020-06-25 01:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19735612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/primadonna_princess/pseuds/primadonna_princess
Summary: “She’s such a charming young lady. Don’t you agree?”“Shut it.”-----Helbindi is struggling to adjust to his new life as a member of the Order of Heroes and Princess Ylgr's designated new best friend until one day, a familiar figure from the past is literally thrown back into his life.





	Glimmer of a Feeling

“HELBINDI!”

With that one word, his plans for a peaceful afternoon alone at the beach went out the window.

“HELBINDI! GUESS WHO I FOUND! GUESS WHO I FOUND!” Ylgr, the youngest Princess of Nifl and a constant thorn in his side, yelled from behind him.

Before he could utter a word, he felt his beach blanket pulled out from under him by something heavy being flung next to him. He gritted his teeth and prepared to yell at whatever just ruined his peaceful nap, but shut his mouth when he saw that it was Fjorm, Ylgr’s older-but-not-oldest sister, who appeared to be even more miserable than him.

He had seen a Fjorm walking by in the castle several times, but never paid her any mind. She walked through the halls with the sort of dignified air expected of a Princess with her Ylgr trailing behind. Helbindi always considered the Nifl and Muspell heroes clad in traditional armor to be the real deal. While he and the Ylgr, Gunnthra, Laevatein, and Laegjarn perpetually trapped in swimsuits were just inferior copies that needed to stick together, lest they be completely forgotten. The woman in front of him was also clearly a variant, and one with even worse luck than him.

The real Fjorm wore battle armor and used a powerful lance with reflective properties that could damage her opponent from any distance. This Fjorm was trapped in a lavish wedding gown that managed to be both restrictive and massive, poofy sleeves that weren’t even attached to the dress, heels, silk stockings, and a short veil attached to a tiara. No one even had the good sense to give her a weapon. Instead, she carried a heavy-looking healing staff with the Nifl symbol on it. Suddenly, being perpetually stuck in swim trunks didn’t seem so bad.

“Whoops, sorry.” Yglr said. “I didn’t mean to wake you up, I just got so excited because I met a different Fjorm and she’s alone, but she’s super nice and guess what! She said we could be best friends! Isn’t that great!?”

“Peachy.” Helbindi growled.

He tried to rearrange the blanket to its previous spot, but it proved hard with the lovely bride-to-be panting and laying uselessly in the middle of it.

“We’re going to have so much fun together! I’m really, really happy! I missed you so much!” Ylgr squealed and threw herself onto her sister, knocking both of them over and on top of Helbindi. He growled in pain and shot a death glare towards the two.

“Damn it! Can’t a guy get two goddamn minutes alone?” He yelled.

“Sorry…” Ylgr said. “I didn’t mean to.”

She nervously crawled off the blanket with her sister following. They both avoided his gaze in a way that made Helbindi feel like a complete piece of shit. He rubbed his forehead and sighed.

_You’re a real rat bastard, you know._

“Listen, Yl-”

“Oh how cute! You finally found your sister.” A sugary sweet voice dripping with acid called out from behind the sisters.

Helbindi grimaced at the sight of Loki teasingly tossing her staff from hand to hand. This walking headache just didn’t know how to quit. Fjorm scowled and protectively wrapped an arm around her sister.

“Oh, don’t be like that! We’re all absolutely overjoyed that another one of Ylgr’s sisters could join us. It’s so nice to finally see another Fjorm wandering these halls. I’ve just been dying to spend some time with you.” Loki said.

No one said anything. To most onlookers, Loki looked chipper as ever, but Helbindi knew her well enough to tell that she was growing irritated by the lack of response.

Once Loki realized she was getting nowhere, she decided to switch up her strategy. She crouched down and grabbed Fjorm’s jaw, digging her nails into the soft skin of her cheeks, then lifted it up to face her.

“And what a vision you are Princess. If the lucky man doesn’t claim you soon, your family will have to hire an entire army to fight off the suitors.” She chuckled. “Though considering what a sight you are, those defenses may not-”

“Oi! Shut it before I gauge out your eyes and shove ‘em down your throat, you miserable hag.” Helbindi shouted.

Sure, Helbindi hated himself for giving into Loki’s trolling. But on the other hand, scaring someone like that was real scummy, even for someone as messed up as Loki.

This seemed to amuse Loki a bit, she dropped Fjorm and brought a hand to her chest with a playful grin.

“Ouch!” She said with a disturbing amount of glee in her voice.

“Scram before I kick your ass to the other side of the ocean!” He shouted.

“Oh, you’re so grouchy! Maybe some fresh drinks will cheer you up, sweetheart.”

“Go sit and spin on a pineapple!”

Loki giggled like a schoolgirl and skipped her way to the beach bar between the resort and ocean. At Kiran’s request, the place didn’t even serve alcohol because apparently no one was allowed to enjoy themselves here.

“I hate that miserable, old bitch.” Ylgr grumbled.

“Me too. Don’t call her that though, swearing is bad.” Helbindi said.

Ylgr nodded obediently and hugged her little toy rake to her chest. It looked cute at first, but Helbindi saw her take down enough foes with that piece of plastic to know that she was secretly wishing that she slashed Loki when she had the chance.

_I am a terrible influence._

“Can we build a sandcastle?” Ylgr asked, momentarily forgetting about Loki.

“You can build a sandcastle. I’ll watch.” Helbindi said.

“S-sure...I’ll...be…there in...a minute.” Fjorm said in between heavy breaths.

“Okay!” Ylgr said before running to the shore to start building the base.

Helbindi glanced over at Fjorm, still sweating and gasping for air after being dragged to the beach without warning in heels. He winced as he noticed that deep indents from Loki’s claws still remained in her cheek.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yes...I’m...fine. I just...gotta catch...my breath.” Fjorm said.

If he wasn’t a total dumbass, Helbindi would have left it there.

“Do you want anything?” He asked.

“Yeah...do you have...any...water?”

He looked at his hours-old cup of coconut milk, now with a film of sand and dust coating the top. There was no way he was giving this to a Princess. But then he remembered that the only other options were getting up to get a fresh one, which he was way too lazy to do, or waiting for Loki to come back with drinks spiked with any number of foul substances and suddenly, the dirt didn’t look so bad.

He passed it to her and she gratefully downed the whole thing in three gulps with no mind to the sand coating it. She took a few seconds for her breathing to slow down and then shot him a polite smile.

“Thank you.” She said.

“Don’t worry about it, I was gonna dump it out anyway.”

“Well, not just for that. I also wanted to thank you for taking care of Ylgr when I wasn’t here. And getting rid of that-”

“I told you don’t worry about it.” He said.

Any sort of praise made Helbindi uneasy, but coming from a doe-eyed waif he tried to kill several times in the past few months just made him want to vomit. He could tell himself that it was a different Fjorm, a Fjorm who may have never even had the displeasure of meeting with filth like him. But he couldn’t get the memories out of his mind of her staring him straight in the eyes with blood on her face and singed hair, ready to get up after every blow he threw at her.

“Do you know where Gunnthra is?” She asked, snapping out of his trance.

“Huh...what?” He asked.

“Ylgr mentioned that Gunnthra, our older sister, has a beach variant that you two have been-”

“Oh yeah, I think Kiran has her in the Aether Keeps or the Training Tower or some crap like that. You can go look for her if you want.” He said.

“Okay.” She said.

He tried to shut his eyes and go back to rest, but the uncomfortable silence weighed heavy on him. Apparently in the world that the Order of Heroes fought battles in, Helbindi was something of a martyr, nearly destroying Nifl and then switching sides at the last possible moment. It didn’t sound like him and frankly, he was comfortable accepting that he belonged with scum like Valter and Arvis, far away from decent people like these two. But if he was a hero in this world, maybe he did something redeeming in Ylgr’s or Fjorm’s world too. The sensation that he was reaping the benefits of a real hero. Or maybe they were too softhearted and polite to tell Helbindi to shove off. Or maybe she knew something about him that no one else did.

  
It was absolutely stupid and he knew it, but curiosity ate at him until he couldn’t hold it in anymore. His eyes shot open and he instantly sat up straight.

“Fjorm, do you-”

He stopped mid-sentence once he noticed that her sleeves were removed and placed onto the edge of his blanket. Along with her veil, jewelry, and heels. She was in the process of tugging off her stockings one by one. Sure, nothing intimate was removed, but Helbindi still felt like he just saw something he wasn’t meant to see.

For her part, Fjorm didn’t even seem to notice Helbindi’s discomfort and continued yanking off her stockings and throwing them onto the pile.

“Yes?” She asked.

He didn’t respond. His eyes frantically darted to the sky, the water, the trees, anything but her. Nervous sweat started pricking from his forehead.

“Helbindi?”

“What!?” He yelled back, harsher than he meant to.

“What were you going to ask me?”

“Nothing, just...just forget about it. Your sister is waiting for you.” Helbindi said.

He laid back down with his hands folded behind his head and tried to forget that she was even there. A seemingly simple task that got harder and harder with each passing moment. Not because there were nagging thoughts that refused to let him be, but because apparently, the royal brat couldn’t figure out how to stand up in her cupcake of a dress.

Each time she looked like she was about to stand, she would slip on some misplaced skirt or be weighed down by the layers and layers of skirts and sashes. Even without her heels, sleeves, and veil, the ridiculous get-up they shoved the brat in left her practically immobilized. Helbindi huffed and rolled his eyes, realizing that he was going to have to be the hero for one of these snowflakes yet again.

Helbindi stood up and roughly grabbed the back of her skirts, careful to avoid touching her hips or behind like the good, chivalrous hero these girls believed him to be, and pulled her up. Fjorm let out a little squeak of surprise and wrapped her arms around his neck to avoid falling over backwards. Unfortunately, his kind gesture resulted in the squirming princess accidentally driving her knee into his stomach. He let out a grunt of pain and looked up to glare at her.

Realizing what she did, Fjorm met his gaze apologetically. With their noses less than an inch away, the two realized how close they were. Helbindi took a moment to study her face. Her eyes were the lightest shade of blue Helbindi had ever seen, they looked at him wide and glassy as a doll’s. She had some meat on her, but no one would guess based on how tightly the dress squeezed her waist into an easily breakable stick. Her lips parted slightly as her cold breath - how the hell does someone have cold breath?! - blew against his cheek. Make-up ran down her face is sweaty streaks while goo ran down to the ends of her hair. Under the mess, it was clear that she had the dignity and grace of a noblewoman and a great warrior, but right now, she just looked like a confused, sweaty young woman desperately trying to keep everyone around her happy. Helbindi always swore that people from Nifl were weird-looking, like unbaked bread or a walking corpse. However, he couldn’t deny that even with pounds of make-up dripping off her face and stuffed into a frilly, stifling, creampuff-looking dress, Fjorm was not bad looking.

“Helbindi?” She whispered.

_Not bad looking at all._

“C-could you…?”

Helbindi suddenly realized how long he had been staring. He immediately turned away and let her go, earning him another surprised squeak. She held on even tighter as the world fell out from under her. He felt his face heat up at the sensation of her cheek against his. For the love of Naga! It was bad enough that this dumb broad was bothering with him in the first place, but to hold onto him like he was her own personal knight in shining armor was just taking things too far.  
He roughly grabbed her arms from behind his neck and ripped them off, releasing her to the ground. She took a few steps back, struggling to regain her balance for a moment.

“If you fall over, I ain’t helping again.” Helbindi said. He deepened his scowl, hoping that it would distract from the color on his cheeks.

It must have worked since the Princess lowered her gaze nervously and dusted herself off.

“I...yes. Thank you. I appreciate your help.” She said and politely curtsied.

“Tch, whatever. The brat’s waiting.” Helbindi said. Returning back to his position on the blanket, hoping he could go back to napping.

But yet another little nagging feeling kept him from closing his eyes. Sure, the Princess was a dumbass to think that garbage like him was worth her time, but it wasn’t her fault that she was too stupid to realize that. He couldn’t even fault her for being too stupid to realize that trash like him wasn’t used to being in the presence of high-class women from faraway lands. Or even how she seemed completely unaware of the way she looked in that godawful, butt-ugly, nightmarish abomination of a dress. Before he could stop himself, he called out to her.

“Hey!”

She stopped and turned around, looking at him with her eyebrows still nervously furrowed together. Once their eyes met, Helbindi realized he hadn’t thought about what he wanted to say. He hesitated. Whatever came out of his mouth was going to be stupid, but he couldn’t possibly look like any more of an oaf than he already did, right?

“That dress, uh...you, uh...you look pretty.”

_Real fuckin’ smooth._

Helbindi’s face burned with the heat of a thousand Muspell volcanos. He wished he could just run out into the ocean and get eaten by a wandering shark. True, he couldn’t even swim, but death by drowning sounded way better than being here at this moment.

Fjorm’s cheeks grew pink as she placed a hand over her chest. Her mouth opened slightly then shut. Helbindi wished he could go over and smack that stupid wide-eyed stare off her face, or at least point it away from him. But then, she smiled. It was soft and gentle and bright in a way that Helbindi had not expected. He hated the way that look made his stomach tighten and his mouth hang open like a brain-dead fish, but he had to admit, being briefly humiliated was worth it to see her looking at him like that.

“Thank you.” She said before pulling her skirts above her knees, turning around, and running to her sister.

For a few seconds, he was frozen, unsure exactly what happened and how he felt about it. Helbindi, the most fearsome warrior in Muspell and a piece of absolute garbage, just swept some royal broad off her feet and told her she was pretty, like the hero of a sappy ballad. He groaned and smacked his forehead.

_It’s official. I ain’t got a scrap of dignity left._

Refusing to think about it any further, Helbindi collapsed onto the beach blanket and tried to fall back asleep. This didn’t last long though, as his rest was interrupted by some obnoxious giggling. Loki casually sat down on the other side of the blanket with a fruit coconut drink in each hand and the smuggest grin Helbindi had ever seen. He scowled at her.

“You got something to say?” He growled.

“Of course not. I was thinking about how nice it is that Ylgr brought her adorable sister for a visit.” Loki said.

Against his better judgment, Helbindi snuck a glance at the two sisters laughing and building what had to be the worst sandcastle ever. Ylgr ran in and out of the water snatching up every leaf and shell she could find and smashing it haphazardly into the sand. Fjorm tried to straighten it up a bit and control her sister, but eventually gave up and chased her sister into the waves. She ran out with her hair and make-up now ruined and her dress sopping wet and, for the first time today, she seemed truly alive. He lay back down and shut his eyes, furiously trying to push away the sick feeling in his stomach.

“She’s such a charming young lady. Don’t you agree?”

“Shut it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I was so upset that no one had written anything involving these two that I wrote a fanfic for the first time in eight years. Apparently, frustration is a great motivator.
> 
> I was thinking of making this a series of one-shots that eventually lead to an actual romance with other Fire Emblem characters and pairings making cameos. Let me know what you think and I'll update soon.
> 
> Be sure to smash that kudos button, comment, and subscribe for more content. Love you all!


End file.
